I recently bumped into a gentleman who paid $1250.00 for a beaver fur cowboy hat. I said “dang”! He said it was 110X or 200X or maybe 1000X, but whatever X it was…that’s a lotta cash to fork over for a hat. I was curious so I did some checking and found this paragraph written in a recent fur pricing summary:
“Beaver prices have been elevated for the past several years due to the hot fashion trend favoring cowboy hats, whose felt is made from beaver fur. That market is starting to exhaust itself. Demand is waning, particularly with the end of the hit TV show “Yellowstone”, which had every American adult wanting to be a cowboy. In addition, felt makers bought a lot of beaver pelts during the boom and many realized they overpaid for lower quality. In some auctions, particularly in 2023, the lower quality beaver pelts sold for almost the same price as the best. Today, the better beaver pelts are averaging $20-25. While size has always been an important driver of price, fur quality has become critical to the value received for a beaver pelt. Lower quality pelts are likely to bring $10-15 moving forward, with a deep discount for smaller sizes.”
So we can blame Kevin Costner for the high price of cowboy hats!
Fur prices have always been closely tied to fads, crazes and fashion hype. The coonskin cap went through the roof when the Davey Crockett TV show was a big hit. Every kid had to have one and raccoon prices went up. Remember raccoon coats? Or coon tails trailing from car radio antennas? Today, trappers get a measly $10-$15 each for raccoon pelts.
Mink coats used to be a thing thanks to stars like Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell and others prancing around on the big screen draped in fur. Full-length mink coats were a status symbol. Today, wild mink (not farm raised) pelts bring a paltry $10-$20.
When I first landed in Montana in the late 1970s, prime Montana winter coyotes were bringing $100-$120. The fur was used mainly for trim on parkas, mittens, etc., and we were all out trapping, calling and in some cases, snow machining coyotes every chance we got! Today that same coyote brings $20-$30.
Bobcats seem to hold value depending on the quality. Montana “high line” bobcats can fetch up to $1200 or more at the fur auctions and often average $500-$700. International buyers from Russia and China usually lead the bidding and have the fattest wallets.
The anti -fur crowd has certainly affected fur prices in the US and elsewhere. And the over-development of our country has greatly depleted habitat of our furbearers. Going back in time, the fur trade was responsible for founding large parts of the US and almost the entirety of the country of Canada. It was the currency of the time…traded and bartered like cash.
For me, it’s a lot easier to understand that a beaver pelt is worth $25 rather than trying to comprehend market value of Nano, Crypto or Bitcoin.
Walk The Earth